With the assistance of other members here I got my DM-32 up and running great on analog & digital signals. The supplied antenna does not work well on distant signals so I wanted to use my RH77CA antenna instead. I have a few SMA to BNC adapters on hand and tried them to mate the 77 to my Baofeng. I get virtually no signal. I left the radio on 162.550 MHZ weather which is a powerhouse signal here & receive nothing. I also tried my outside discone antenna with the same result. I then ordered a 2 pack of adapters from Amazon that fit snug on top of the Baofeng & still had virtually no signal. I did notice when I lay the radio on its side where the PTT buttons are that it then seems to receive normally. I find it very frustrating. Having the DM-32 on its side when I’m at home looks odd but it works. Out in the field you will understand why the proper orientation of the radio is a priority. I tried the adapters on other Baofeng radios and have the same problem. I would especially get my external antenna to work with the 32. Anyone else experience this glitch & find a solution to this?
-
To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:
Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.
If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.
To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.
The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.
For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).
This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.
Baofeng DM-32UV BNC To SMA Adapters Not Working
- Thread starter SatHunter
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2004
- Messages
- 2,020
- Reaction score
- 739
For what it's worth, I just tried one of my SMA-to-BNC adapters with an RH77 antenna, and it seems fine. I use one of the black adapters with a short SMA female stub.
rescuecomm
Member
I have the same problem with some SMA aftermarket antennas not making contact. It seems to be the diameter of the center conductor.
I believe you are right. I took a 2 inch piece of solid copper wire and touched it to the centre conductor in the antenna jack and I was getting the weather channel on 162 MHZ at full strength. What I also notice that the rubber ducky antenna they supply with the radio doesn’t work either. I had to swap antennas with another Baofeng radio to get it to work. The swap worked for both radios. All of the adapters work perfectly on my Quansheng handheld. I wonder if there is a way to shim an adapter so that it will contact the centre conductor before attaching the antenna?
I have EXACTLY the same problem. Even observed that it worked better with the radio turned on its side (as if laid on its PTT button), even when there seemed to be zero wiggle room left in the SMA<>BNC adapter. Also tried a couple different adapters, including what I consider to be a high quality one. Did you find resolution? It’s so bizarre to me, as the radio works well with multiple native SMA antennas.
Can even receive 162.55 wx channel with my finger on the center pin and also with the BNC adapter affixed. While that would leave one to think the issue was between the BNC side of the adapter and the BNC HT antennas… but successful reception & transmission on other radios with that same connector and antenna has me ruling that out. And while I agree the Baofeng’s center pin looks awfully thin, the pin sockets on the cheapie HT SMA antennas don’t look ‘tighter’ than on my adapters.
I thought about bending the center pin slightly, but don’t want to break it off if that’s not the issue. Of all the connectors I’ve looked at here, the cheapest looking one is the antenna connector of the DM32-UV itself.
Thanks for sharing your experience with resolving this, as I need to connect an external antenna.
Best
BNC to SMA adapters come in different designs from different manufacturers. Because of this, some just don't make good contact with the center pin on the radio's antenna connector.
I have several from different manufacturers, and most work okay on my DM-32. I would suggest trying a different style.
I have several from different manufacturers, and most work okay on my DM-32. I would suggest trying a different style.
I recently got a couple of new handhelds lately so I put the Baofeng to the side for a while. Every dealer I tried had very similar adapters to the type I purchased so I thought to try some of the inexpensive Chinese types from Ali or those kind of sites. I also wanted to mention that the supplied antenna that came with the DM32UV does work at all. I had to swap it out with an antenna from another Baofeng model to get it to work. One of my Realistic scanners has the same problem. The external antenna does not make a connection on the centre conductor. It’s a miserable situation that I am determined to find a solution to.
I will let you know when I find something that works
Last edited:
Yep, it’s driving me insane. Surprised how all the 3-4 cheapie SMA female rubber ducks I have do work. It certainly points to the center being the core issue, but surprisingly even putting a couple of high awg copper wires in the socket of a female SMA>BNC adapter didn’t net me significantly better results; I perceived the mechanical resistance when slowly mating the adapter to the radio. I absolutely get reception on 162.55 through capacitive coupling with the center conductor of an antenna or other metal, having the adapter screwed in… however that reception typically cuts out after the antenna is fully mated to the female BNC on the adapter. Loosely coupled, it’s clear the reception is afforded through capacitive coupling, because said reception cuts out if I bring my hands close to the base of the radio while it sits on the table. Proximity disturbs the capacitive coupling, which wouldn’t occur with full low resistance DC contact.
Likewise, with the antenna fully affixed to the BNC side of the adapter, but only loosely inserted into the radio’s SMA socket, reception is enhanced versus mating it completely.
It’s possible that there’s some type of high resistance film on the center pin of the Baofeng, so I may try to clean with isopropyl alcohol.
The other thing I attempted was to file down the tip of the SMA female end of a cheaper adapter, as I thought maybe the length of the baofeng’s center pin was not to spec… to my eye I thought maybe the rubber ducks had a more shallow depth from tip to dialetric. However, that also didn’t make a difference.
Just sharing in case it triggers other thoughts.
I appreciate your reply earlier.No problem- it would be great to get this solved. I think it is obviously a design flaw as their own supplied antenna won’t work with the unit. I tried a bunch of different combos using different types of adapters to try to get it to work. I just get the centre wire touching to get a temporary signal and then goes silent when I tighten it up. I have more to try so I’ll post my progress and hopefully get a way to make it work as it was intendedYep, it’s driving me insane. Surprised how all the 3-4 cheapie SMA female rubber ducks I have do work. It certainly points to the center being the core issue, but surprisingly even putting a couple of high awg copper wires in the socket of a female SMA>BNC adapter didn’t net me significantly better results; I perceived the mechanical resistance when slowly mating the adapter to the radio. I absolutely get reception on 162.55 through capacitive coupling with the center conductor of an antenna or other metal, having the adapter screwed in… however that reception typically cuts out after the antenna is fully mated to the female BNC on the adapter. Loosely coupled, it’s clear the reception is afforded through capacitive coupling, because said reception cuts out if I bring my hands close to the base of the radio while it sits on the table. Proximity disturbs the capacitive coupling, which wouldn’t occur with full low resistance DC contact.
Likewise, with the antenna fully affixed to the BNC side of the adapter, but only loosely inserted into the radio’s SMA socket, reception is enhanced versus mating it completely.
It’s possible that there’s some type of high resistance film on the center pin of the Baofeng, so I may try to clean with isopropyl alcohol.
The other thing I attempted was to file down the tip of the SMA female end of a cheaper adapter, as I thought maybe the length of the baofeng’s center pin was not to spec… to my eye I thought maybe the rubber ducks had a more shallow depth from tip to dialetric. However, that also didn’t make a difference.
Just sharing in case it triggers other thoughts.
Tried another new BM32-UV handset (different color, bundled with a different longer range attention, etc) ... also tried another set of adapters from Amazon that look pretty decent. Seems like it's an infrequent problem, so I'd hoped a different handset/HT entirely might solve it. Still having this issue with the new one.
OKkk. I did some more tests... the newer DM32-UV unit I received, with the SMA>BNC adapter and an antenna based on BNC, seems to be hitting DMR repeaters with similar signal strength as the 'older' DM32-UV with the provided rubber duck. I observed that the FM broadcast radio reception improved with the BNC antenna fully seated, versus no antenna. While the 162.55 NOAA weather radio reception degrades TERRIBLY, I think it's possible that this radio's front end somehow overloads at those frequencies with many antennas. With the Abbree AR-771 (which comes in the box with the DM32 in some bundles -- a knock off of the Nagoya 771) screwed into the old radio, NOAA weather radio reception also cuts out. In most cases, it seems that NOAA weather radio reception is strongest when the antenna is not physically connected to the radio (via metal-on-metal low resistance at DC), but the RF is only capacitively coupled into the receive chain, prior to the antenna's center connector being fully mated. The station is strong enough that putting my bare finger on the connector usually brings it in.
In summary -- I do think the diameter of the center pin is indeed an issue, and results in some poor connections ... so definitely find an adapter that works and try to stick with it.. But being a cheapie SDR receiver likely means that adding a better antenna can cause reception to fully cut out (rather than improve) due to front-end overload at certain frequencies. That issue may require very little additional gain. (As a side note, SWR on the stock rubber duck at NOAA frequencies is about 6:1 with a decent ground plane ... and I think that's helping it avoid front-end overload). I don't know if the radio is largely free from front end overload at UHF--but it seems a bit better. And while an aftermarket antenna doesn't seem to handicap reception of 2m FM completely, the receiver doesn't pull in weaker signals very well.
For the price (and once you're over the hurdle of deciphering the CPS and DMR generally), I think the radio seems to be decent for DMR. I don't think it's a particularly great FM analog receiver (compared to analog only receivers at an identical price point). The squelch is also a little problematic and too aggressive at its lowest setting; while it would make sense to favor CTCSS/DCS selective squelch -- those options unfortunately aren't applied during scan mode. It's also very impractical to set the analog squelch level to zero for an analog channel on this radio, though I think disabling squelch is likely recommended for digital reception.
Similar threads
